A Systemic Theory of Democracy: Towards the Democratic Diagnosis of Political Systems

by Victor Sanchez-Mazas

Overview

A new approach to democratic theory that empowers its citizens.

Democracy is a complex social system. A Systemic Theory of Democracy investigates the complexity of democracy's functioning through a systemic perspective to identify opportunities and challenges for democratic transformations. It critically reappraises social systems theory, extracting critical tools to describe and evaluate dynamic and ever-evolving democratic systems within their changing societal environment. By articulating political functions, social practices, and democratic principles, this systemic framework transcends theoretical models' boundaries, enabling it to map existing political systems and identify their context-specific shortcomings.

A systemic approach to democracy, argues political researcher Victor Sanchez-Mazas, opens the road for the possibility and necessity for citizens to identify the problems faced by their democratic system. A Systemic Theory of Democracy calls for a critical democratic agenda: the constant diagnosis of democratic shortcomings, by citizens themselves and through democratic processes. This book introduces democratic diagnosis as a major challenge and opportunity for both contemporary democratic theory and existing democratic systems.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9782889156481
Publisher:	EPFL Press
Publication date:	08/19/2025
Pages:	364
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.45(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Victor Sanchez-Mazas is a political researcher from the University of Geneva. He is a member of the Institute of Citizenship Studies and the Department of Political Science and International Relationships. 

Table of Contents

"Introduction
Deliberative and democratic systems
Democratic theorizing, perspectival lenses, and normativity
Systemic lens and systems theory
Democracy as a system
Context-sensitive diagnosis
Chapter 1 Systems in democratic theory
The systemic turn in deliberative democratic theory
Two models of deliberative democratic systems
Chapter 2 Opening the black box of democratic systems
The descriptive layer
The normative layer
Chpater 3 Systems theory: a critical reappraisal
Systems theory
Society and social systems
Chapter 4 The sociological boundaries of political systems
The contingent function and codes of political systems
The environment of political systems
The internal differentiation of political systems
The legitimacy of political systems
Chapter 5 From power to justification: the normativity ofdemocratic systems
Power and normativity: from Luhmann and Habermasto Forst
From practices of justification to democratic legitimacy
Reciprocity and generality as normative compasses for democracy
The normative layer: justification criteria and contextual norms
Chapter 6 Democratic systems: sketching complexity
Observing and mapping political systems: the descriptive layer
Towards democratic systems: the normative layer
What about deliberative systems?
Chapter 7 Towards the democratic diagnosis of political systems
Diagnosis and context-sensitivity
Guidelines for the task of diagnosis
Diagnosis of democracy and democratic diagnosis
Conclusion
Democracy through a systemic lens
Problematizing democratic systems
Present challenges and future paths"